Currently, the closest you can drive to Area 51 keeps you more than 15 rugged, carefully monitored, and lethally defended miles away. To this day, Area 51 remains a top secret testing facility, and the government and United States Military don’t want you anywhere near it. Since these prototypes’ development was top secret, and sightings were rare, it is easy to understand how so many people must have thought the unusual aircraft must have been from another world. Since the 1950s, when locals and visitors to this part of the Silver State have spotted top secret aircraft, made of never-before-seen technology, flying at high speeds and performing uncommon aerial maneuvers, they were unsurprisingly mystified as to what they saw. Today, Area 51 and the Nevada Test and Training Range are part of what is known as the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). Government’s major partners in top secret aircraft and spy plane development-called the area Paradise Ranch in an attempt to attract workers to the project. When Area 51 was first established, Lockheed-one of the U.S.

How Area 51 Got Its NameĪrea 51 gets its name from old maps of the Nevada Test Site that defined the allocation of land around Groom Lake as literally the 51st of the many areas that make up the military base. Other well-known aircraft tested at Area 51 include the Archangel-12, the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter, and even the SR-71 Blackbird (yep, the X-Men’s preferred mode of transportation is a real aircraft). Although it has never been declared a “top secret base,” the area is highly protected and is restricted to both land and air use. Extraterrestrial Highway So, What is Area 51?Īrea 51, a highly classified remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base, was built in 1955 as part of the more substantial Nevada Test and Training Range complex, initially to serve as a test facility for the U-2 Spy Plane.

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